Esper control meta-gamed to the SCG open. That means lots of instant speed removal, Minimal planewalkers, sweepers to kill the go wide strategy, and one of my favorite finishers in standard, Demon of Dark Schemes.
Why the 2/2 split on Demon of Dark Schemes and Torrential Gearhulk? Well these are honestly both excellent cards in the deck but each serve different functions. Torrential Gearhulk gets tons of value when it enters, but isn't actually that amazing at winning the game. I would run a 4 of if I felt that doing so would not eat up slots at the 6 drop slot. On the other hand we have Demon of Dark Schemes which I feel is really well positioned against the vehicles deck, as it kills most of their creatures when it enters, blocks copters for days and has a game winning ability stapled on that synergizes with the energy theme in the deck.
Aether Hub I feel like this card is really the only way to run 3 colors in this meta and this deck is designed to both utilize the flexibility of the mana from this card and make use of the energy provided by it. I think Aether Hub can actually serve as a sort of payoff for energy as well, making cards that provide energy like Aether Meltdown and Glimmer of Genius also serve as mana fixers.
Aether Meltdown Honestly this card isn't great and normally I wouldn't run it but in a world of copters this card is passable. It interacts with copter the turn it comes down which is more than you can say about most removal spells in the format. There's a big need for 2 mana removal and this does enough things to be okay.
Glimmer of Genius I think this card is really criminally underrated. Yes 4 mana is a lot for a draw 2, but it's basically the best instant speed draw spell they've printed in standard since maybe Dig. Now this card is no Dig, but what it is is an instant speed read the bones for one more, with no life loss and 2 energy added, which can be used to fix mana and fuel Demon of Dark Schemes. It also pairs up well with Torrential Gearhulk.
Liliana, the Last Hope This deck has a really solid ability to protect her, and she serves as a great way to slow down an opponent and maybe pick off tiny creatures such as Veteran Motorist and Selfless Spirit Also if she comes down late she can recur a Torrential Gearhulk or Demon of Dark Schemes Honesty she might be good enough to run 4-of and just axe a Dovin Baan.
Essence Extraction This is a total metagame card. If we go back to midrange this will be awful, but against the scg meta of copters and tiny dudes, this can read "kill target creature, gain 3 life" which is pretty excellent. Even against bad match-ups this can at least kill most of the most popular creatures, and against control decks, removal wasn't doing anything anyways.
Skywhaler's Shot As a "kill big things card" I like this better than Murder or Ruinous Path or even Stasis Snare although I would play Stasis Snare if i thought the mana was good enough. The easy casting cost and the free scry 1 seems like exactly the type of thing I want in this deck. If only it added energy.
Blessed Alliance Honestly, Immolating Glare might be better but I really like the flexibility of gaining 4 life if you have 4 mana up and who knows, the untap ability might actually be usefull to ambush with the whole 4 creatures in the deck. The deck really needs a lot of 2 mana kill spells to function and this is one.
Grasp of Darkness You can't play black and not run this. Unless you're hitler or something.
Dovin Baan I like this guy. I want to play with him and make use of all his stuff. Everything about him seems good, but kind of bland. He's white bread, but he's the 4 mana planeswalker white bread for control. Might be better as just Liliana, the Last Hope # 5.
